Asking those who have bought a new build...

SMR710

If you have bought a new build, having moved from a fully furnished home, how did you begin to make your new build house become a home? Tips please!!

Some larger items are likely to follow us such as beds and possibly sofas etc but im looking for advice as to personalising the rest. The new house is considerably larger than we have now and we won't have a big budget for interior design as soon as we move do even though I will want new sofas, bedroom furniture etc I'll have to save up as we go. So... Those who have done this and didn't have a big interiors budget to begin With, how did you start chipping away at making it a home?
Advice or tips on personalising much appreciated. Thank you.

Skiddaw1

Probably too late now, but there's always the 'ex show home' option. When we were house hunting one of the houses we viewed was the show home for a small new-build complex. Everything was thrown in with it (furniture, fixtures, beds, carpets, curtains- the lot). Not our bag but we reckon someone would have bitten their arm off.



Otherwise- here's a tip- if there's a parish magazine or similar look out for adverts for second-hand or reconditioned furniture. We found a splendid local company (a husband and wife team) from whom we purchased a reconditioned farmhouse table and 6 vintage French farmhouse chairs at a fraction of the price we'd have paid for a new dining table set. Also Freecycle obviously and any local community websites/FB pages are always worth a look.

RelievedSheff

We moved into our new build in April and like you have moved from a smaller property and brought some existing furniture with us.

Making our new house a home is still an ongoing project and we are buying little bits and bobs as we go on to make it feel more homely.

We are getting there but it is all still a bit fresh out of the box looking. We are going to start decorating next Easter after the house has had a year to dry out and settle in. That should make a big difference again.

There are still things we need to buy. Our TV and TV cabinet look tiny in the new living room for example but we can replace things like this as and when. There is no rush. We are in this house for the long term.

jennifernil

Our daughter bought a new-build about 7 years back, but she was able to choose the kitchen she wanted, the bathroom tiles, the paint colours for the walls of every room, and the number and position of sockets and radiators to suit how she wanted to furnish it.

She moved from a smallish 1 public/3 bed flat into a much larger 2 public/4 bed/3 bathrooms townhouse, but the only things she bought immediately or in the next few months were all the flooring, a big sofa, several Billy bookcases, and some new dining chairs, all from Ikea so reasonably priced. Other items were added as she gradually organised all the rooms. She got some of the furniture that had been in her bedroom at our house too.

Last year, now a family of 3, they moved to a place with almost twice the floor area, 3 public/4 beds/4bathrooms, all much larger rooms, so needed quite a bit of additional furniture.

Once the purchase was confirmed, I started looking on our 2 local Freecycle sites and managed to get them a comfortable 2 seater brown leather sofa with matching armchair, in very good condition, and another brown leather large 3 seater sofa, also in very good condition, not matching, but it is not in the same room anyway.

Also on Freecycle, 3 good Ikea office type cupboards that match stuff they already had, and she found another Billy bookcase for sale on Gumtree, I think. We also had a brown leather swivel armchair and 2 footstools that needed a new home, and sent back a coffee table we had been storing for her, and her mother-in-law had an Ikea chest of drawers that matched what they had, so they have plenty of furniture now!

So my tip would be to not rush out to buy things until you work out what you really need/want. Look on Freecycle for suitable things meantime, you can always Freecycle them again later. Other good places to look are charity shops, British Heart Foundation and Salvation Army, amongst others, have furniture shops, and Gumtree and Preloved can be good too.

The new place, which is actually almost 100 years old, was well decorated, but not all to their taste. So far they have tackled repainting 1 public room, and made some alterations to 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which involved removing walls, fitting/moving wardrobes, woodwork, wallpaper, paint, blinds, a bath, and 2 new basins, so also some tiling, and the next project will be the utility room. The rest will be done to their taste when the rooms are needed.

SMR710

What very helpful tips - thank you much everyone!

LittleMax

In terms of decorating - we just did 2 feature walls -1 in the lounge and 1 in our bedroom. Added a splash of colour without having to redecorate and only took a couple of rolls of paper - which you might even be able to get free on freecycle if someone has some leftover.

sst1234

Pinterest should become your best friend. Lots of ideas which can be replicated on a budget if you buy cheap accessories from Asda or Amazon.
My advice would be to steer clear of wallpaper, can look cheap and mismatched unless you have a real eye for design. Go for warm neutral tones, use colored accessories, nothing needs to cost more than a fiver. Above all, the single most important thing is lighting. This makes or breaks a room. A decent ceiling light can be more powerful style wise than the most expensive designer Italian furniture.
When I bought my new build, my budget was £150 per room for total furnishing. This included everything except flooring.

pattypan4

Pictures and feminine touches like coloured cushions, rugs. Some plants in coloured pots. Nice lampshades not those stark ones that give of bright unshaded light. I did different to you, I downsized and my home was made quickly. Not too matching, different colours of armchairs and sofa. There will be masses of stuff in charity shops

welwynrose

Also see if there’s a freecycle group in your area you may be able to pick up some free furniture locally

Caitykinss

We've upsized from a two-bed flat to a three-bed house that had been whitewashed with plain new carpets before we moved in. We have all our old furniture so didn't need much, other than to fill another bedroom. We have put all our old master bedroom furniture in the spare bedroom and have got ourselves new - (not expensive but more stylish than the standard IKEA we had before). For decorating, we decided to paint every room as we wanted them - feature walls in master bedroom, living room and kitchen, and pale grey in the two spare bedrooms. I did this myself and didn't pay more than £100 for the lot, including new brushes, rollers etc. If we change our mind on any of this, it won't matter too much, but it feels much warmer now. Our main big expense was a new kitchen floor as the old one was awful. We only went for cheaper tiles from B&Q and laid them ourselves (with help from experienced family members!) so didn't cost a fortune. The house feels much more our own now.

We're a few months in and there's still lots of things we want/need. Some rooms feel really bare, there's storage we need in various places and I'd like some more cosy accessories and pictures, but I reckon it will take around a year to get it to a point where it feels 'finished'.

My advice is to get yourself a paintbrush and a few tins of paint and pick some colours that you like, and then pick one larger area you'd like to do first - a floor, or particular furniture for a room. It takes a while living in a space to realise what you need where.

RelievedSheff

LittleMax wrote: »

In terms of decorating - we just did 2 feature walls -1 in the lounge and 1 in our bedroom. Added a splash of colour without having to redecorate and only took a couple of rolls of paper - which you might even be able to get free on freecycle if someone has some leftover.

Best to let the walls in a new build dry out before applying any wall paper.

Painting them is fine but expect to have to redo some areas after 12-18 months of the house settling in.